JOHANNESBURG, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Zambia’s sovereign dollar bonds jumped on Monday, after the President said that creditor agreements had been signed with China and India, raising hopes that the southern African country could be close to finish its long-delayed debt restructuring.

The defaulted bond set to mature in April 2024 rose more than 2.4 cents on the dollar to 68.5 cents at 0852 GMT, its highest level since June 2022, according to Tradeweb data XS1056386714=TE.

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema told a public event on Sunday that the copper producer had signed the long-awaited official creditor debt rework agreements with China, its largest bilateral creditor, and India and was negotiating with private creditors.

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane had said Friday that the government was trying to clarify what it meant to treat creditors comparably, after official creditors rejected a previous bondholder deal in November.

(Reporting by Rachel Savage, Editing by Karin Strohecker)

((Rachel.Savage@thomsonreuters.com;))